Dan Beardshall: Into Music

A1

The Story

SIDE A · 03:41

I'm not going to pretend I've worked in music. I haven't. What I have done is spend eight years getting good at the things a label runs on.

The fandom is real and lifelong. Records, instruments, lyrics, the lot. The move into the industry is deliberate, not a passing phase.

I collect records. I play. I write. Music has been the constant thread while I built a career in sales and business development, most recently as Head of Sales Strategy at a consultancy where I helped small teams grow without losing what made them good.

I've come to one conclusion, though: the commercial discipline I've spent years sharpening is exactly what independent labels need and rarely have time for. Predictable income. Partnerships that land. Systems that hold. The unglamorous backbone that buys the creative side room to breathe.

So this is me being upfront. Yeah, I'm a fan, but I'm a fan that can make an impact from day one.

A2

What I Bring

SIDE A · 04:12

01 / COMMERCIAL

Revenue That Holds

Half a decade building sales systems that make income predictable, relationships that matter, and teams that just work well. I give creative teams the room to breathe and take risks with confidence.

02 / AUDIENCE

Content & Attention

Years spent building content strategies that grow authority and attention. It mirrors release campaigns, artist positioning, and audience growth.

03 / SYSTEMS

The Backbone

CRM, process, operations. All the behind-the-scenes structure that prevents a growing label dropping balls as it flexes and scales. Not exactly sexy, but essential.

04 / RANGE

A Swiss Army Knife

Sales, marketing, content, culture, ops. I've done it all inside one business, helping scale it from a two-man team to a fourteen-person organisation. Show me a problem and I'll have a crack at it. Not precious about job titles, either.

B1

Experience

SIDE B · 06:08

2026 →

Head of Sales Strategy · Friday Solved

Design and deliver commercial strategies for the business and its clients, blending sales, marketing, tech and process into engines small teams can run themselves.

Commercial

2024–26

Head of Growth · Friday Solved

Owned short-, medium- and long-term growth. United marketing and sales to build recognition and traction for a small independent business, from the ground up.

Growth

2022–24

Head of Content · Friday Solved

Built content strategies that positioned clients as authorities. The storytelling and audience-building craft behind any strong release campaign.

Content

2021–22

Freelance Copywriter · Get To The Point

Wrote for B2B and B2C clients, finding a voice and telling a story that lands across very different audiences.

Craft

2013–16

Commercial Manager · Marks & Spencer

Managed commercial operations in high-volume retail. Early grounding in commercial discipline, stock and performance.

Foundations

B2

Where I Fit

SIDE B · 03:33

Look, I'll be honest. The dream is always to be in A&R or label management, and while I've got the leadership credentials, I don't have the industry experience. I accept that.

But I do have a strong set of commercial and growth experiences, particularly in a scaling business.

Realistically, I think I'd sit well in the new-business / sales-y area of the label. But as you'll be getting the impression by now, I'm happy to hoover the office too.

I just need a foot in the door, and then I can show you what I'm made of. Good life experience, good professional experience, and a real passion for the craft and the output.

I'd love the chance to chat it through over a coffee, virtual or otherwise. Even if it's just to tell me I need some qualifications, that I'm naive, or to let the dream die. Though let's not consider that one just yet.

So in short: business development, growth, sales, marketing… or maybe even a sidekick in label management or A&R. Worth a chat, surely? 😉

B3

The Music

SIDE B · 08:24 · HIDDEN TRACK

Where to begin? That's every music fan's impossible question. You can't pin down the exact moment music stopped being background noise and became a way of life. But I'll hazard a guess.

Car rides with my Dad, shouting out track numbers because the song titles escaped us.

"The name song, Dad, play the name song!" — code for Song For Whoever by The Beautiful South. Other times it was Track Fourteen: The Masterplan. Or Marc Almond and Jools Holland tearing through Say Hello, Wave Goodbye, Dad calling to the back seat — "Big finish now, boys!" — and all of us belting it out.

For as long as I can remember it's been records, bands, guitars, pianos, saxophones, rabbit holes, NME, Glastonbury, Hammersmith Apollo — anything that made me feel alive. From teenage heartbreak to leaving home, getting married, divorced, moving back to my parents' and everything between, there's been a soundtrack for all of it.

I played in bands growing up — fronting a quasi mod-punk outfit in crisp Fred Perry and ice-cool Wayfarers. We never made it, of course. But it set something that never left: the need to be in this industry someway, somehow, someday.

Life got in the way and ran off with the ambition for a decade while I built a career in sales and BD. Now it's time to make the jump. I'm not overflowing with industry experience — but I've got real career experience, and a distinction from the University of Life.

I'll make the tea. I'll buy the Jaffa Cakes. I'll help find the next Fontaines D.C. Wherever I fit, I'm your man.

So, in the words of Mark Knopfler… how about it? Sleeve notes, DB-001

Cornerstones, on heavy rotation always

A1Darkness on the Edge of Town · Bruce Springsteen

A2Our Favourite Shop · The Style Council

A3Reunions · Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit

A4Anything, honestly · Frank Turner

A5Up the Bracket era · The Libertines

In the crate right now

B1Hiss Golden Messenger

B2Good Health Good Wealth

B3William the Conqueror

B4Craig Finn / The Hold Steady

B5The Guest List · making waves

B6The Howl & The Hum · love them